County Record: Digital Edition

Penny Record: Digital Edition

From the Creaux’s Nest

PATRIOT DAY–9-11

Patriot Day is an annual observance on September 11, to remember those who were injured or died during the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. On the direction of President Obama, the U.S. Flag should be displayed in homes and flown at half-mast in all U.S. government buildings around the world. Many people observe a moment of silence at 8:40 a.m. Central times. This marks the time the first plane flew into the World Trade Center. Patriot Day is not a Federal holiday.

On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked then deliberately flown, one into the Pentagon and two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The loss of life and damage that these hijackings caused was the biggest act of terrorism ever on United States soil. Nearly 3000 people died in the attack and the economic impact was immense.

George W. Bush was president at the time. Since then, the attacks have greatly increased attention to security in the United States. We have had no attacks on America since. The flag of the United States, displayed on 9-11, reminds Americans that our country remains strong in the face of massive terrorist attacks. However, the terrorist changed our way of life in many ways. Our life style is not as casual and security is priority.

Patriot Day should not be confused with Patriot’s Day, which commemorates the battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. two of the earliest battles in the American Revolutionary War.

Our government works over time to keep our homeland secure. All we hope and pray for is that God will bless America, not just on 9-11 but every day. *****I’ve got a long way to go and a short time to do it. Please come along, I promise it wont do you no harm.

MEMORIES OF IKE

The hurricane blew in during the wee hours of Sept. 13, six years ago, in 2008. I was upstairs about 2 a.m. the blowing wind was deafening; the house seemed to be shaking. I went downstairs to fine the water coming in. I awoke everyone, and then it got worse. Madelyn Bailey made it up into her attic then the snakes got so plentiful when the winds died down and daylight came, she made it to her roof. The next few days seems like a bad nightmare. On every block and every street people’s belongings were stacked four to six feet high on both sides of the road. At the time, it seemed impossible that Bridge City would ever recover. Our county was hit the hardest, yet thanks to Judge Thibodeaux and the leadership, we were the first to recover.Thibodeaux used the county reserves and started digging us out. I couldn’t be any prouder for Mayor Roccaforte and the city’s leadership during those trying times. Just as important is the recovery and tremendous improvements the city has accomplished. City Manager Jerry Jones and his city staff deserve a lot of credit for the great strides the city has made since that awful night that brought so much destruction. Bridge City today is far better off than anyone would have expected. The storm was damaging to many small businesses that never recovered. The lose of so much revenue affected this newspaper. Due to the storm we also lost our production office. Thanks to the Harmon family and Glenn Oliver, who allowed us space to put up shop the following week after the storm ,we published a special Ike edition, with many photos taken by Mark Dunn, who stayed through Ike. We still make our base in the Harmon building. Business has never caught up to what it was before Ike but thanks to the advertisers who support us, we still furnish the citizens a free, community newspaper every week. Thanks to the good response, we continue to be the county’s most widely read publication, with a combination of The Penny Record and The County Record. They cover the trade area like a blanket.

TURNING BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

10 Years Ago-2004

Vada Tinsky turned 102 on Sept. 8. She was born in 1902, the year the Kansas City Southern Railroad reached Orange. Also the year the town plat for West Orange was filed. (Editor’s note: Since then, this wonderful lady went to meet her Maker.)*****Joe and Wilma Grossman will celebrate their 50th on Sept. 20.*****Gone But Not Forgotten: We lost Bobby Houseman this week.Bobby was an active community leader and president of the Lamar Foundation.*****Virginia “Ginny” Plunk, 83, died Sept. 12. What a sweet lady she was.*****James Allen Young, 68, of Orange, died Sept. 11.*****Huel “Shorty” Swindell, 79, died Sept. 13.*****Stella Floyd Goodwin, 88, died Sept. 13.*****Kenneth “K,P.” Lamaire, 64, of Orangefield died Sept 11.*****Robert Lee Livingston, 72, died Sept. 9.*****Harold Wayne Kirby, 74, of Orangefield, died Sept. 9.*****Donald Oceola Edwards, 64, of Orange, died Sept. 11.*****Gerald Wade Gearen, 52, of Mauriceville, died Sept. 6.

40 Years Ago-1974

On August 14, Bridge City Band officials, Boy Scouts and Bridge City School District representatives planted the first of 200 Live Oak trees, given to the community by Bridge City Bank. The Bank is now making available to customers free Live Oak trees who can then donate them to the school district. Several have already been planted at all campuses. Scouts participating in planting the first tree were Arnold Majors, David Nabours, Joe Brody, Pat Burleigh, Elton Myers and Brandal Herman. George Besse was scout master of troop 133 sponsored by Knights of Columbus 3406. *****Susan Savoy weds Dennis Brown August 31. Barbara McRight became bride of Edwin Hayes Osobrn on august. 30. *****Thrift and Gift shop, 207 Fifth St., has its first anniversary sale. *****Steak lunch at Bonaza will set you back $1.19. This includes crisp, tossed salad and Texas toast. Free refills on beverages. You might want to leave a 15-cent tip. Twelve ounces Ribeye special on Tuesday night, only $1.99. *****Louis Fox, Orange city manager is a tennis buff. *****Trubi Shelton is the sexy voice at the court house. *****John Holland, a former professional actor on the New York stage, is now an Orange resident. John is now handling the promoting for Orange Community Players. *****Savoy Studio, owned by Gary and Judy Savoy, is taking registration. The dancing, baton, modeling school is located at 590-Sixth St.*****The new head football coach at Little Cypress Mauriceville is Randall Dorsett.*****Bill Powers, #52 and Neal Jenkins, #33, will both play multiple positions for the Bridge City Cardinals.*****Reggie Kelly, #80 and #51, Dale Dailey, will be big guns for Stark. Kelly will fill the split end slot, Dailey at center. Tough linemen for the West Orange Chiefs are #55, Junior Henry and #52, Junior Lacagton.*****Phyllis and Jim Berwick are the proud parents of Alica Renee’, 9-pound, 4-ounce baby girl. Grandparents are the Wilburn Stokes and the David Landry’s.*****Jean and Tom Addison spent two nights and three days in New Orleans after Jean won a free trip from P.S. Tire Supply. They stayed in the French Quarters and Tom was dragging when they got back. *****Joe Kazmar is growing hair on his upper lip to strain his soup through. ******Joe Grossman is back at Nacol’s on MacArthur. *****Virginia Gilbeaux is a college student who looks as good as the young college kids. *****Max Staudt, one heck of a nice guy, is letting his hair grow out. He wants to see what it’s like to be a hippy for awhile.*****Spotted eating gumbo at LaPlace this week was two great Italians, Tony Pavia and Tony DalSasso. Those two guys were eating Cajun like they were born in the swamp. *****McLaury’s Appliance is now home owned by Joe Norman and Bill Robinson and will continue to be managed by Larry Bergeron. *****Last week, Charles Patton “Mr. Gravely Tractor”cut one of his fingers off. When the hospital sent someone to retrieve the finger, the cat was sniffing it and even the dog wouldn’t have anything to do with it. They sewed it back on.

A FEW HAPPENINGS

Home boy, Bridge City native, Matt Bryant, NFL kicker for the Atlanta Falcons, kicked a 51-yard field goal to put the Falcons in overtime in Sunday’s game. Then Matt kicked a 52-yarder, flying over the crossbar with plenty of room to spare to beat the Saints. It’s always good to see one of our home gown youngsters do good. We had watched Matt at B.C. since he was just a puppy. In fact, all three of Mary and Casey’s boys were good athletes. Matt started his pro career with the New York Giants, then 10 years ago last week was turned down by the Cowboys. Since then Matt has become one of the top, most reliable kickers in the NFL.*****Speaking of football, the West orange-Stark Mustangs, year after year, continue to amaze. They did it again Friday in coming from behind win over Port Neches. They had to beat the Indians and the officials, five bad calls, two of them criminal*****On Sunday, the most impressive team besides the Falcons, was the Houston Texans. J.J. Watt lived up to his $100 million billing.*****Poor Dallas, if it wasn’t for bad luck, the Cowboys wouldn’t have any luck at all.*****I’m told the Bridge City Cardinals have some good, young talent that only needs experience. In fact, a guy who knows football and has watched them says, “In the next couple years they will be the team to reckon with. They have some impressive youngsters.*****A few folks we know celebrating birthdays this week. On Sept. 10, Tonya Strickland Barnwell, a retired school teacher, granddaughter of the legendary sheriff Chester Holts, and daughter of proud parents, Nova and the late Jerry Strickland, a mother and wife and just a special lady celebrates her special day.***Also celebrating today is Bridge City photographer Jamie Oliphint, Beth Ann Windham, Dena Bates and Lisa Wilson. ***They share birthday with Arnold Palmer, 84, and Jose Feliciano, 68.*****Sept. 11, Billy Fontenot, married to Liz, celebrates on this date. Also Sharon Sparks and Casey Stephenson.***They are joined by Harry Connick, Jr., 46, and Lola Falana, 71, plus 9-11.*****On Sept. 12, School teacherKaren Warner celebrates and also Bryan Riedel and Cynthia Claybar. Also according to James, Betty Nezat, a nice lady, will be three-fourth’s of a century old Friday.*** They join Linda Gray, 73 and Jennifer Hudson, 32.*****On Sept 13, Mark’syoungest daughter, Jenna Dunn Ballou, mother of his two grandkids and soon to be three, a special mother, wife and granddaughter celebrates today. Also celebrating is our lifelong friend Faydra Thibeaux, who mothered nine children, has a great outlook on life and is very special. Celebrating also is Bridge City middle school teacher Darlene Brown who marks another year and Melinda Young Hoyt is a year older.*** They share birthdays with Designing Women’s Jean Smart, 62, Tyler Perry, 44 and Hurricane Ike.*****On Sept. 14, our buddy Cathy Garrettson is getting older but her great personality and disposition remains the same. Celebrating on this day also is Amber and Jenna’s mom Kerrie Dunn and joining her is Kim Morris, Greg Choate, Pat Tilley, and Nikki Wingate. They celebrate with Brad Paisley’s wife, Kimberly Williams Paisley, 42, Star Trek’s Walter Koeing, 77 and Sam Neil, 66.*****On Sept. 15, Jon Berry, Ginger Ellis, and Shonna Hunt celebrate. They join Tommy Lee Jones, 67, Dan Marino, 52 and Prince Harry, 29.*****On Sept. 16 the monarch of the Dunn clan, Ms. Phyl, celebrates. Also Todd Estes, Valerie Gilbeaux, Stephanie Morris, Tommy Purdy and O’Shanique Foster. They join David Copperfield, 51 and singer Nick Jonas, 21.*****On Sept. 17, BCISD school board member, Jeff and Goober’s brother, Mark Anderson celebrates. Also Lynda Stout and Chase Burch. They join Nascar driver Jimmy Johnson, 38 and singer BeBe Winans, 51. Happy birthday to all.*****Under the war powers resolution, President Obama can send troops into combat for 60 days before he must obtain congressional approval. That means that by the end of the month the President will need authorization if he wants to continue air strikes against ISIS forces in Iraq. Can anyone before election time afford to vote no. Book it, some will. Others will just try to cause problems for political talking points. The President will address the nationWednesday. The country needs to unite behind our government.*****You just have to go back six years to appreciate how far the countries recovery has come when unemployment was high and eight million jobs had gone down the tank. Two auto manufactures were facing bankruptcy and the housing market had crashed due to over extended loans. We still have a way to go but we’re on the right track. Congress needs to help. We needed that jobs bill passed.*****Speaking of that, Forrest Gumpturns 20. He was played by Tom Hanks in 1994. The movie took in $677 million, won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. It was based on a novel written by Winston Groom in 1986. Forrest met Richard Nixon, LBJ and inspired Elvis and John Lennon.*****The seventh annual S.P.O.R.T Tunnel Boat Races on the Sabine will be held Sept. 19-Sept. 21. Trial runs will be held Friday, Sept. 19 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by a free concert by the American Sons from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.at the River Front Pavilion. They play a blend of country music with a different rock twist. Their first album “Redneck White and Blue” was released in 2013. Their roots run deep in Southeast Texas. Racing action will be held Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s the last race of the year with the season ending in Orange with the championship races. The racer with the highest points of the year will be crowned champion after the Orange race. The three day event is expected to draw a very large turnout of spectators.*****Saying goodbye to 81-year-old Joan Rivers, who died last week in New York, was like watching a Broadway show. I had watched her on the Red Carpet and Fashion Police etc. She was always enjoyable to watch because you never knew what she would say. A simple throat procedure where a patient is put to sleep and a hose inserted down the throat was done to try to determine the cause of her raspy voice. Anytime an elderly person is put to sleep it’s dangerous and should be done only by a trained anesthesiologist, not a nurse. Remember what happened to Michael Jackson. Be sure you know who’s putting you to sleep.*****Judge Claude and Pauline Wimberly were honored at a 60th wedding anniversary celebration at the Masonic Lodge Saturday. Daughter Paula did a wonderful job with the arrangements, the hall was beautifully decorated, the food and cake were good and plentiful. The event was attended by family and friends. Congrats to the Wimberley’s and also to Paula for her caring.*****On Sept. 8, 114 years ago, Galveston was digging out from the 1900 hurricane that destroyed the city.*****We’re glad to report that Ms. Pearl is out of the hospital. She is staying with Jody and Beverly, doing better and fighting through home therapy daily. I told you she is tough.*****Speaking of strong women, I got an email from Joan who wrote, “The old boys need to step aside and let women run the government. They will flush the commodes and put the lid down.” That must be some kind of girl’s code.*****The Wednesday Lunch Bunch gathered at Robert’s last week. Judge Derry Dunn attended, escorted by his doctor son Mark, who was down from Portland. The Judge is getting around but his leg is ugly. He is very fortunate to still have it. The Bunch will dine at Novrozsky’s this week. Everyone always welcome.*****Ray Rice, of the Ravens, is suspended by the NFL after a video came to light of him knocking out his girlfriend, now his wife. It happened in February and he was given two day suspension before the video surfaced. That same thing happens to women thousands of times a day. Physical and mental abuse of women is a big problem. Some women live with it for years. That’s sad.

Sugar Bee and Sostan’s little granddaughter Casey, the eight year old daughter of dere daughter Agnes, was talking to her teacher, Miss Landry, bout whales. Miss Landry told Casey it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small. Casey, her, is like her Grandma Sugar Bee and very headstrong. Casey told Miss Landry dat Jonah, him, was swallowed by a whale. Irritated by now, Miss Landry said, “Casey, I told you a whale could not swallow a human. It’s physically impossible.

We were sorry to hear about the death of Austin “Goose” Gonsoulin, number 23 for the Denver Broncos. He was the first draft pick ever for the Broncos. He played seven seasons, 1960-1966,. He holds the single season record for 11 interceptions and a single game of four. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson, in Port Arthur, in 1956 and went to the Baylor Bears where he starred as a wide receiver, running back and defensive back. He played in six pro bowls. He played his final year with the 49ers. As an all-pro, “Goose” never earned more than $20,000 a year. J.J. Watt just signed a $100 million dollar contract. Many of us watched Gonsoulin in his glory days at T.J.*****Don’t be surprised if Rick Perry’s indictments disappear. There is just too many Republicans involved. The senior judge, Bert Richardson, a Republican, is probably getting a lot of pressure to throw out the case. He’s on the Nov. 4 ballot. Prosecutor Michael McCrun is also a Republican. Perry’s next court date is set for Oct. 13. Don’t be surprised if the fix is on and Perry’s case never reaches a courtroom. No Democratic D.A. was involved in Perry’sindictments but they have convinced the country otherwise.*****The Commissioner’s Court Monday moved Sheriff Keith Merritt up one step allowing him, for the first time, to be paid more than four of his captains. The chief deputy will still be paid more than Merritt and the county judge. It was long overdue and the Sheriff is happy and thankful to the Commissioners for making the adjustment.*****Gotta go. Thanks for your time and loyalty. Please shop our family of advertisers. Take care and God bless.